Ouroboros
by Faith Accompli
Summary: Ginny Weasley sees the looming threat in Lord Voldemort's rebirth and realises that she's not ready to fight, not ready to die. The smartest thing to do is run away, right?
1. Prologue

**Ouroboros**  
by Faith Accompli 

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Disclaimer: Ginny, the rest of the Weasleys, Potter, Voldemort, the Malfoys and all other characters from the Harry Potter books belong to Rowling. Characters not from the books probably belong to me. The Egyptian gods belong to themselves and the long-dead people who worshipped 'em. Not for profit (hah!) but for the fun of it.  
Author's Notes: This started from a vague whim that turned into an actual plot, and I thank Dia for making me read Peabody. thoughtful Unless _thank_ isn't quite the word...

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For the fifth time in as many nights, Ginny awoke to find herself choking back a scream. 

The nightmares had been what started it. Oh, not nightmares like Harry Potter had, accurate renditions of whatever Lord Voldemort was doing or planning, even if she had something of a case on which to almost expect them--she hadn't walked away from her encounter with Tom Riddle unscarred--but just dreams that were simply _bad._ Pain, blood, torture, all the things that young wannabe-Death Eater teens with no knowledge of what it was actually _like_ wanted.

She could hazard a guess on those dreams being predominantly a product of an overactive imagination, an unsubstantiated sense of self-importance and a deep-rooted amount of insecurity, but that didn't render her feelings on the subject any less firm. Malfoy's parents had been responsible for the debacle of her first year, her possession and her abuse, with Lord Voldemort back she had no doubt that _he_ might be told of her failure and retribution would be exacted on her as well as on Potter.

That, and Potter's ties to her family were all too strong thanks to her brother's friendship with the boy and her mother's wholehearted acceptance of him as part of the family, it all added up to make too many ties between them. If the Death Eaters and their lord wanted to make the boy suffer, killing her family would strike close to his heart.

She wasn't much of a Gryffindor, she realised as she curled around the rather battered teddy-bear that Bill and Charlie had given her for her third birthday, not when others were thinking of ways to fight Voldemort and she was thinking of the best way she could run away and hide. Her confidence had taken a thorough beating in her first year at Hogwarts, but it had given her a sense of perspective that most of them lacked and helped her get away from the Gryffindor machismo that prevailed over whatever intellect her housemates possessed. Hell, she even had a friend in Slytherin thanks to the way her year of Gryffindors avoided her like the plague after the rumours that had spread in her second year. That should have reassured her, for if nothing else she might get a moment's more warning than her housemates recieved, but...

'_I'll be no use in whatever fight comes looking for us, all I can do is die. I don't _want_ to die, I'm a selfish little cow but I want to be a selfish little cow who's still _breathing.' It wasn't a brave sentiment, nor a noble one, hardly daring by any standards, but it summed up her best thoughts on the matter. She would only be a target, she wasn't well-educated or powerful enough to fight back, and she had no desire to act as a human shield for Harry like his mother had, despite _her_ mother's best attempts to make her and Harry an item.

Realistically, she had to get out. She was _not_ going back to Hogwarts in September, even St. Mungo's would be a better option. Unlike much of her house, she realised as she got up and pulled her dressing gown on, she had absolutely _no_ faith in Dumbledore's ability to protect the school. If he was such an almighty and powerful wizard, he'd have stopped Lord Voldemort before the Slytherin had ever made a proper bid for power. If he was such an almighty and powerful wizard, he'd actually be _doing something_ to stop the snake before it devoured the world.

Sneaking downstairs quietly on an indirect route to the kitchen that avoided passing her mum and dad's room, she found it empty and poured herself a glass of milk, taking a chair with a sigh of relief. She wouldn't have minded Percy being up this early, but Ron, Fred, George or her parents would have been too much. They never _listened_ to her, even if she'd felt like talking it out, but after her first year...

Her mother had a habit of trying to make her say what was on her mind and paying little or no attention to her answers, and her father... well, he was her father. Muggle-obsessed and not much good at helping out with her psychological problems.

A soft whoosh of air behind her indicated that someone had just Apparated into the kitchen, and with her mind so full of dark thoughts she immediately jumped to the conclusion that it had to be Lord Voldemort, or at least some of his friends, promptly falling out of her seat with an undignified squeak.

"Ginny?" Bill's voice came from the direction of the Apparated person, so logic dictated it wasn't a big threat, and she turned around as she was, accepting his hand and help up from the floor before she looked to see the mess she'd created when falling. The glass had slipped from her hand and was unbroken, being of cheap plastic, but the milk had spilt across the entire table and was dripping off the far end.

"Yeah. Shit, Mum's going to murder me," she mumbled, looking around for a dishrag. "You probably didn't hear, you got in too late last night, she's trying to save as much as she can 'cos Potter's coming to visit in a week, along with Hermione."

"I don't think Mum will kill you over spilt milk," Bill chided but didn't scold her for swearing, waving his wand with a muttered spell that she couldn't properly hear. The milk started to spin and turned into a small waterspout-equivalent, dust and dirt and sweet-wrapper separating themselves from the liquid before it landed back in her glass, leaving him to present it to her with a courtly bow and a finishing comment of "...especially if she doesn't know it happened."

"Thanks," she said softly, reclaiming her seat. He looked for a moment as if he was going to take the next one over, but instead dropped his still-folded newspaper on the table and ambled over to the kettle.

"What dragged you out of bed so early?" Bill inquired of her as he started making a pot of tea, shaking the tea-canister and frowning into it at the level of the contents. After a moment he simply poured half into the pot, adding boiling water and bringing it to the table with muttered curses interspersed with 'hot!'s and 'ow's. "Usually we have to dump you in the bathtub and run water on you before you're even vaguely conscious. I'm still on Cairo time, what's _your_ excuse?"

"Don't remind me," she tried her hardest to scowl at him over her glass, but relented when he poured her a cup of tea and handed it over. "Bad dreams."

"The usual?" He had been the one to hear her screams in the mornings after Tom Riddle had left her, he had been the one to pat her on the back and hug her and tell her that he'd try to keep her safe, when her parents and her other brothers had been out playing tourist in the tombs. Percy had watched over her in the night, but even he couldn't ignore parental dictates and refuse to go into the bloody tombs in favour of babysitting his little sister. No, their mother had decided that she would be left in Bill's apartment when they went into the confined spaces that would supposedly bring back traumatic memories--

--as if she didn't carry them with her every damned minute of every damned day, the moment she stopped thinking about anything else. But she had been exhausted and unable to put up a decent fight as to why she _shouldn't_ be excluded, and so she'd slept. Slept, only to awaken with Tom's laughter in her mind and her cries deafening to her own ears.

She shook her head, curling her fingers around the cup and sipping slowly before adding milk and sugar. "No."

"Want to talk about it?"

"I don't know." She wasn't being at all helpful as he tried to find out what her problem was, and she knew it. "Sorry. It's just...one of those things."

"Life? School? Boys?" he asked, raising an eyebrow curiously. "Girls?"

"Hah. That's the least of my worries, brother-mine," she gave him a deliberately quizzical look, reaching out a hand to pat his arm gently. "If _you're_ having girl trouble, though..."

"I wouldn't ask my little sister for help. There are some things you don't need to know about me." Rapping her lightly on the knuckles with his teaspoon, Bill dropped the semblance of teasing humour. "Really, Gin, what's wrong? You don't look so good."

"Oh, _thank you._" He didn't seem at all taken aback by her biting sarcasm, and she swept her hair back with one hand to give herself time to gain composure. Suddenly, the depths of the teacup were looking entirely too interesting. "I'm..."

She was..._stupid._ Bill lived in Egypt. There had to be a school in Egypt. What little she knew of African magic indicated that it was substantially different from European magic, probably something Lord Voldemort knew little or nothing about because he _had_ focused on the European angle. Lord Voldemort hadn't set foot on the African continent openly, and he wouldn't bother following one little girl there, no matter if she had ruined his plans in her first year of school.

"I'm scared. Lord Voldemort's risen, Potter's going to be his first target, and even if he doesn't intentionally want to kill _me_ I'd really like to not be in the way at the time," her voice had begun to shake, but she swallowed quickly and focused again on her tea. "Take me to Egypt with you."

To Bill's credit he didn't putter about asking her if she was sure, if she'd thought this through, if she really meant it. No, he got straight to the point. "Mum _is_ going to kill us. They'll never find our bodies."

"You _will?_"

"You're my sometimes-annoying little blister, but I love you. You've been through enough in this fight already, and if being far away'll make you feel better, you may as well start packing your bags."

She couldn't help the little girlie squeal that broke free as she jumped up, this time _not_ knocking anything over, hugging him and kissing him on the cheek with the most enthusiasm she'd shown for anything in a long time. "Thank you."

"We still have to tell--ah, _ask_ Mum, remember."

"Ask Mum what?"

.

"Ginny's moving to Egypt," Bill stated cheerily, gesturing for Percy to help himself to a chair and a cup of tea. "Doesn't enjoy the climate here."

"And you're not just referring to the weather, I'm sure," Percy commented, his tone dry in the very extreme as he took a cup, milk without sugar, and pointed to the door. "Mum's waking up, we might want to continue this conversation where she'll not join in until you have a _very_ convincing argument prepared."

"Good thinking," she nodded, rising carefully and refilling her drink before she started for the garden. "C'mon, then."

Flopping down on the lawn beneath a tree without a care in the world for her nightwear, but a curse for her stupid cup of tea that slopped half of itself down her hand, Ginny waited with a curious expression until Bill and Percy joined her. "Convincing argument?"

"Mum's not going to like you running off to 'strange heathen countries', even if we do manage to convince her that it's for your own safety," Percy clarified, sitting down with a lot less grace than she and Bill had managed. He began polishing his spectacles on his shirt, a nervous gesture he'd had ever since he was...ever since she could remember, actually, and frowned before he put them back on. "I'd planned to talk Mum into letting you live with Penny and I when we start flatting next month, and was going to ship you off to Beauxbatons because that school doesn't have the shadow of Voldemort looming over it yet...but Egypt is a much better idea."

"You...were?" she paused, struck momentarily dumb by the thought that Percy would do that for her--especially when he and his girlfriend were only just moving in together. They'd always been closer to each other than they were to the rest of their siblings because they were the odd ducks out, and he'd kept writing to her even when he hadn't contacted the others for _months_ at school, but...

Of course, Fred, George and Ron were an ungrateful pack of wankers and _she_ was his baby sister.

"Naturally. But Egypt is safer; Voldemort didn't recruit a single Death Eater there...the Egyptians come down _very_ heavily on anyone practising magic for the wrong reasons...such as genocide. They're also far more organised, not having had the likes of Voldemort or Grindelwald disturbing them for almost six hundred years."

"You'll take my side when we tell Mum about it, then?"

"Yes, Gin," Percy favoured her with one of those little smirks that others rarely saw, his conspiracy-face, and he shrugged with an innocent air. "I may as well tell Mum that I'm moving out, too. Time to sever those apron strings. It's going to be family argument day!"

Bill groaned.

"So, Mum," she started casually, not looking up from her toast. She, Bill and Percy had decided that she would begin and they would join in the conversation when their mother had actually grasped what she was saying. If Bill had brought it up first it would have only turned messier, with their mother accusing him of stealing away her baby girl, the 'comfort of her old age' or somesuch rubbish, ignoring the fact that it had been Percy who raised her until he'd been sent off to Hogwarts. "I've been thinking."

"Have you, dear? That's nice," her mother answered, dashing between the stove and table with a frying pan full of bacon. "Do you want to come shopping with me? I think we can afford a nice shirt for you to wear when Harry and Hermione arrive--"

"N...not really. Percy and Penny took me shopping the other day, remember? I have clothes, Mum." Could the woman _be_ any more dense? Yes, a new shirt to wear when Voldemort's number-one enemy showed up, that would cure all her ills. It could get pretty blood-splatters on it, and be framed as a work of art--

No, she had to be fair. She hadn't really talked to her mother for three years, and they'd never been as close as her mother and Ron were. "Mum, I'd like to switch schools."

"Don't be silly, Ginny, your father doesn't make enough to send you to Beauxbatons."

"I want to go to Egypt, not France."

"You _what?_"

"The school at Sheta Oasis is a good one. She'll have to learn a few more languages but I'm sure they'll help with that," Bill interjected when their mother rounded on her, not missing a beat when she grabbed her plate and scuttled over to finish eating behind him, "From everything I've heard they provide a well-rounded education and a much greater degree of safety than Hogwarts."

"That's ridiculous," Molly announced as she sat heavily, pouring sugar on her bacon without even noticing. "Hogwarts is perfectly safe, and what sort of danger are you expecting anyway?"

"Voldemort, Mother," Percy entered the fray, looking at their mother over the rims of his glasses. "He's risen again and I'd be very surprised if he _didn't_ attack Hogwarts to capture, torture, maim and kill Potter." He paused, seemed to consider, although if she knew her brother at all he'd had the words long planned, "If he doesn't pay us a visit here first, that is."

"Professor Dumbledore is coming on Thursday to put extra-strong protective charms on this house, I'll have you know, and I have every confidence in his ability to keep Hogwarts safe for _all_ the students," her mother protested as she perched on the arm of Bill's chair and started stealing his breakfast, her own finished. "From Harry down to the youngest first-year."

"Sorry, mother, but be that as it may, many people don't share your confidence." Percy shrugged, spearing another piece of toast with his fork and slathering that prize with butter. "I've doubts as to the effectiveness of any charms Dumbledore could do to prevent Voldemort and his friends from coming to slaughter us next week, and I'm not the only one that's occurred to."

"Oh _really?_ If that's the way you feel, Percy, perhaps you'd rather not be here when Harry is. If it would make you feel _safer,_" their mother snapped, slamming her teacup down to underline her disapproval of his show of sense, or as the woman would see it, cowardice.

"Okay. Penny's dad said I could stay with them until we move in together, they won't mind if I show up on their doorstep with a suitcase. I can take Ginny with me 'til Bill's ready to go back to Cairo."

Their father, Fred, George and Ron were watching the conversation unfold with wide eyes, in such a state of shock at Percy standing up for himself that they were unable to say a word. Ron's mouth opened and closed a few times, the effect looking something like a goldfish out of water, but he couldn't come up with a cohesive defence for Harry...in fact, he looked as if the knowledge she and Percy had both had for some time was only _now_ crashing down between his ears.

"Sounds fine to me," Bill nodded. "I was going to leave on Monday, but maybe Ginny and I'll leave on Friday instead, what with her change of schools and all. I think the year begins mid-August this time, the inundation being low."

"Don't be absurd, Percy," Molly settled on at last. "I didn't mean that you had to go, it was said in a moment of anger. We'll talk about this after breakfast _privately,_ Percy... and Bill, you overstep your authority. Ginny is still _my_ daughter, and I will have the final say on where she goes to school."

"Can we go to school in Mongolia?" George quipped after a minute of silence.

"_No._"

.

"Percy, I'll talk to _you_ later about your intentions toward that Penelope girl. Bill...what on _earth_ are you thinking? You want to take Ginny _thousands_ of miles away...Ginny, I'm talking to your brother, leave the room until you're called--"

"This is my bedroom, Mum," she pointed out, tugging her suitcase free from underneath her bed where it had been since she last went to Egypt. "Remember? Bill, what should I pack?"

"Underwear," Bill advised, before he turned his attention back to their mother. "Look, Mum, Ginny's not happy at Hogwarts. She went through enough trauma there in her first year and...what did they offer her when they _finally_ found out what was wrong? I'm sure it wasn't counselling..."

"A cup of hot chocolate," Percy answered with a shake of his head as he stretched out on her bed, seeing that no one else seemed to want to take advantage of the seating space. "Mum, I've been thinking for a while now that Ginny should go to a different school. Even if she didn't have bad memories of Hogwarts, the fact that Potter goes there and the entire world seems to know it... well, Potter's got a great big target painted on his back, and Ron's always running around getting into trouble with him. They finally started noticing that Ginny existed last year, and I don't think it's healthy for her to be anywhere _near_ them."

"You're not making _sense_, Percy. Professor Dumbledore is the one man that You-Kn...Voldemort ever feared. Harry's defeated Voldemort time and time again, I'm sure he can do it again if Dumbledore's not up to it," Molly nodded firmly, waving a hand at her, "And since Harry's not going to get anywhere with that Chinese girl, it only makes sense for Ginny to stay at Hogwarts. Sooner or later, Harry will--"

"_Mum!_ I don't like him any more, not like that! It was a stupid little-girl crush fostered by the hero-worship for him that half our society has...I was _ten years old,_ I'm not a child any more," she protested fervently, covering her face with her hands before they all noticed the colour rising on her cheeks.

It was perfectly true that she didn't fancy Potter any more, not in the slightest. Tom Riddle had half-cured her of that, and close association with Harry...well, as much as one could get being in the same house when Harry generally steered clear of her...had finished it.

Harry was just another shallow boy, his thoughts consumed by Quidditch, how to prove Snape guilty of _something_ or other, and he really didn't seem to understand what girls were even _for_ yet. "If anyone in this family is going to nab him it'll be Ron, you know." Calmer, she lowered her hands and glanced sideways to see Percy and Bill both smirking silently, and continued emboldened by their tacit approval, "After the Triwizard Tournament and all... well, it wasn't _me_ down the bottom of the lake."

"You have to give Harry time to grow up, dear. Sooner or later he'll turn around and realise what a beautiful, wonderful girl you are, you just have to wait long enough," her mother patted her shoulder firmly, trying to pull her into an awkward hug that she slipped out of as fast as she could. "Boys mature slower than girls, it's just the way it is."

"So if I want to get anywhere with someone now I should ask a girl out?" she queried flippantly, tossing a shirt at Bill for his approval or disapproval. He flung it into the suitcase and moved over to help her empty out her drawers, his shoulders shaking with the laughter he didn't dare let escape lest their mother round on him again when she was doing so well anyway.

"That's not very funny, Virginia," Molly snapped, sitting down on the one chair and drawing her wand to send a good half of the neatly-packed clothes in the suitcase back into a heap in the drawer. She returned them to the suitcase and weighed them down with books. "Now stop this nonsense immediately. You're not going to get a girlfriend, you're not going to stay at the Clearwaters' house, and you're _not_ going to school in Egypt. Bill, you shouldn't have encouraged her, you know I don't want her going into pyramids--"

"The school isn't in a pyramid, Mum, and it was her idea," Percy chipped in, polishing his spectacles again. "She doesn't feel safe at Hogwarts, and if she hadn't asked Bill I was going to take her with me when I moved out and send her to Beauxbatons. I've saved enough for her first year and I have a promotion coming up."

"So you want to move out and take your sister away from me! And another thing, Bill, if you think your father and I can afford to pay the exorbitant fees this _Sheta Oasis_ place will charge, you're absolutely mad. We can barely afford to buy new robes for Ron and he actually _needs_ them, it's not just some childish whim--" Their mother pulled out the last card she had, the financial difficulties one.

"I pay taxes in Egypt, Mum, and I have a good job," Bill pointed out gently, ransacking the tiny wardrobe that held most of her skirts and dresses. He pulled free the most recent additions, those which Percy and Penny had bought her when they took her out to London earlier that week, and dropped them into the suitcase. With the addition of books and shoes that she'd carefully packed, it looked like it would need both Bill and Percy to stand on it while she locked it to prevent it bursting open. "All I'll need to buy her is her uniform and supplies, education's fully subsidised by the taxes."

"They probably won't accept her," Molly answered with a cheerfully maniacal look that almost made her worry. If she didn't know what Percy had up his sleeve... "After all, she's only your sister, not your daughter, but at this rate I'd be almost _glad_ to see you take her. Ginny just hasn't been the same girl that she was last year, if _you_ want to take the ungrateful brat away to strange foreign places..."

"And that's where this comes in," Percy said with a very polite smile as he pulled a roll of parchment out of his sleeve, offering it to their mother. "Legal guardianship papers. I had them for getting Ginny myself, but Bill may as well use them. You and Dad just have to sign here, here, and here."

Such a neat trap they had sprung, between them, and their mother's eyes widened as she realised where she'd been led. "I don't have a quill and ink."

"I do!" She handed them over with such enthusiasm that she almost spilled the ink, slipping away from where their mother sat at the poky little desk that dominated a corner of her room before the woman could return the items.

"You'll regret it," their mother warned her, warned Bill. "She'll want to run away from _you_ soon enough. And don't _you_ come crying home in two months when you get to the school and you don't make any more friends than you had at Hogwarts. Then you'll be sorry that you threw away any chances at friendship and love that you and Harry had--"

Ignoring their mother's dire imprecations of future suffering that was sure to befall her, she danced around the tiny room in pure glee, hugging first Bill, then Percy, and then even the woman who scowled at her as she was signed away into Bill's care. She was going away!


	2. Chapter 1

**Ouroboros** 1  
by Faith Accompli

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Disclaimer: All characters from the books belong to Rowling, Boyd's one of my own.  
Author's Notes: um, those of you who critiqued on Molly's characterisation? It's a valid point if the story was written from a purely objective person's perspective. But it's from Ginny's. Of course, well-spotted those of you who realised that. :)  
Thank you t'all my reviewers, you are most kind and your words and thoughts are appreciated.  
(Angelike Riddle - 'ouroboros' is the snake that devours its own tail.)

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Her father took the news stoically in contrast to her mother's irrational arguments and fit of tears, signing the papers without a word when her mother thrust them at him with an order to sign. Her mother had then run away to lock herself in her bedroom, and her father quickly followed the sobbing woman, handing the papers to Bill in passing. From the look on her father's face, though, he would have given the papers to Lord Voldemort if the Slytherin had been there in Bill's placeher father really wasn't anywhere so near concerned about where she was going and what she was doing as he was with her mother's emotional state.

That was fair enough, of course, her parents doted on each other to a degree that she and Percy had found _quite disgusting_ at the advanced age of two and seven respectively, but for some reason she wasn't nearly as hurt by her father's lack of concern for _her_ as she should have been.

Well, if her mother and father didn't care to have her around, it was really no skin off _her_ nose. They'd not wanted her in the first placeshe hadn't been their accident, not like Ron was, but they'd wanted another boy. They hadn't said as much to her, but she had asked and Percy had explained after a week of ceaseless begging, nagging and pleading, and it fit nicely with their treatment of her.

She'd been a good baby, not sickly and awake at all hours of the day and night, so she'd been the forgotten baby. Percy had taken over looking after her when he'd noticed the neglect. Poor Percy...he'd only been _five,_ and he'd turned his back on his beloved school, on all his books, all so he could keep her happy, keep her well-fed. Keep the twins from murdering her accidentally as they experimented with the question of 'do babies bounce if you drop them from a high enough window?'

If Percy hadn't wanted her, on the other hand, if Percy had told her to leave, _that_ would have hurt her. But Percy had wanted her, and Percy supported her desire to go to Egypt. Hell, Percy thought it was a _brilliant_ idea, and Bill hadn't put up much of a fight at all.

Speaking of which, she should go and tell Percy that their father had signed the forms, she was practically free. And so she slipped away with another hug for her oldest brother, her wonderful brother who was helping her escape from Hogwarts and England and Harry bloody Potter the walking disaster.

As she flitted out of the room, she heard Ron's voice raise behind her, "What just happened?"

.

"I didn't _want_ her to go!"

The shout arrested her progress as she was tiptoeing past her parents' door on her way to Percy's room. If she knew her brother, he would be packing his little library up in preparation for the move to Penelope's...their mother had claimed Percy wasn't moving out, but if she knew her brother it would have only firmed his resolve more, now that he'd made up his mind.

Poor boy was probably desperate for sex too, after all; their mother had kept him housebound as much as she possibly could ever since the school year had ended and he'd started his two weeks compulsory compassionate leave in light of his boss dying.

Of course, she'd done her part for the cause when the three of them had been shopping, when their mother had decided that her presence would keep Percy from misbehaving with 'that naughty Clearwater girl'.

Yes, she'd winked at Penny and casually pushed her brother into the ladies' toilets with the girl, pulling the door closed again and going off to look for socks. They'd returned some time later, considerably more relaxed, and she'd only smirked knowingly.

"Then why did you sign the papers?" her father's voice cried, real anger in his tone. "If you hadn't signed them, _I_ wouldn't have signed them!"

She should go on to Percy's room. Eavesdroppers never met a pleasant end...

"Because she made me so angry! She doesn't _care_ that we're her parents and that we love her, all she cares about is herself"

Yeah, right. She was staying to hear _this_ one.

There was a loud crash, as if something had been thrown or knocked over inside the bedroom, and her father's voice was heard again. "Can't you get Percy to talk sense into her? She listens to _him_ more than she listens to _me._"

Of course she listened to Percy, Percy listened to _her._ Percy had her best interests at heart instead of his own.

"No! Percy's _all for it!_ And he's moving in with that Ravenclaw girl, he's _going to stay at her house as of today!_ He doesn't want to be here any more than Ginny does, and small wonder when _Penelope's_ family is rich, when _Penelope's_ family has _two house-elves_ and a house that she's not ashamed to have people over at"

Money wasn't anything to be ashamed of, in her book, but her parents had come to take wealth as a sign of pure evil after the birth of the twins, when it became obvious that at the rate they were breeding they would never be even solvent, let alone well-off.

And yet they never asked where Potter got all _his_ money, and she knew the boy had it. Stacks of it, even, buried in Gringotts. He bloody well could've offered to share a little of it when he was staying over, even if her mother and father wouldn't have taken it...hell, he could at _least_ have popped down to the supermarket with Ron and helped them stock up, instead of just cheerfully eating his way through every plateful of food that her mother forced on him.

"There's nothing wrong with our house! It's a little cluttered and worn around the edges, but it suits our family very well. It's not _my_ fault the Ministry doesn't pay me enoughif I took bribes then I'm _sure_ we could live in the lap of luxury that you seem to want, but do you want me to dirty myself that much?"

It'd have been a nice start, and might have gotten her some new school shoes before the old ones had soles worn so thin that she couldn't walk outside in winter without risking frostbite. But her father had hit the right note, she knew her mother was going to cave any moment and gush with support for his strong moral fortitude...

"No, of course not, dear,"

Dead on.

"I know it's difficult being the only straight man at the Ministry, I do. And I would _never_ want you to take a bribe, but I don't think financial woes are the source of our problem with Ginny."

Impressiveher mother _actually admitted_ to having a problem.

"It's not your fault she doesn't understand, Molly," her father said quietly, soothingly.

When next her mother spoke, the woman's voice was muffled and just a little choked, as though her face was pressed to something, "I love her, I just don't _understand_ her! She wants to go away and she hasn't really talked to me...not _ever,_ not once in her entire life. I don't know how to make her talk to me..."

If she had been stupid, she would have called out for her mother to try not talking so bloody much herself, but she refrained with effort.

"She hasn't emotionally connected with anyone since her first year, you know that. It's not your fault if she shuts you out just as much as everyone else."

"It's not that, Arthur, she hasn't 'emotionally connected' with anyone _new. _She and Percy are thick as thieves, Bill and Charlie adore her and she seems to love them well enough, but she doesn't love _me._ Or you."

Perhaps her mother wasn't as deeply stupid as she'd originally thought. It was true, she didn't love her mother or father. She hadn't bothered investing time, emotion and effort into cultivating dead wood, and she didn't need to waste her time with people who were already dead and simply too stupid to realise it.

Molly Weasley had missed the mark ever so slightly, though. She _had_ made a friend or two since her first year at Hogwarts. If she was going to be strictly accurate, she'd made two, and her mother disapproved of both of them _thoroughly._ Penny and Em were nice girls, though. Nice to _her._

And that was all that mattered. There was nothing else of interest to be learned, she judged by the increased weeping from the bedroom, so she carried on in search of her brother.

.

"Mum's sobbing her heart out on Dad's shoulder," she announced as she entered Percy's room, going to the desk on which Hermes perched to scratch the owl behind his neck. "She just doesn't understand why I don't love her."

"Complete and utter neglect until you were eight years old and a half-arsed attempt at noticing you were alive at ten wasn't enough reason for her?" her brother answered in a tone that dripped enough irony to soak the carpet as he stacked an armload of books and papers into the cardboard box that rested on his bed.

"You know Mum, 'too little, too late' doesn't really enter into her head," she claimed a corner of his bed and sat with her legs tucked beneath her, examining each new work that went into the box. "She didn't really try that hard, though, after Ron went to Hogwarts. Too busy owling him every ten minutes to ask more about famous Harry Potter, and then all caught up in sending love from afar in the form of Christmas and Easter gifts."

"Those _bloody sweaters_..." Percy shook his head in sorrow for what she had gone through, but a hint of mirth showed through his expression. "And you're now going to be officially on the list of people who don't ever have to wear their sweaters. She'll send yours to Egypt just like she sends Bill's, and you can conveniently forget to pack it every time you come back for family gatherings."

"Don't think I want to attend another one of those, though," she grinned up at him, well aware that she was a spoiled little brat and that he didn't care in the slightest, because she could get away with murder.

Ron had actually said one time that Percy would turn his family over to the Dementors in a heartbeat if it gave him a chance of promotion, but that was a dirty lie. He'd only turn Ron, Fred, George and their parents over. Bill and Charlie weren't in the country most of the time, and he'd never dream of turning _her_ over.

He'd forgiven her for her part in Penelope's petrification without her even having to babble past the first 'I'm sorry', she could do no bloody wrong. She sure as hell didn't need her mother's love, not when she had someone else who had loved her all along and actually _cared. _"I'll just stop by with you and Penny if I'm back in the country. You're _much_ more fun, and don't try to keep the wine out of my reach."

"You're not an annoying drunk," Percy smiled at her, a little shamefaced. She'd said nothing more than truth, he didn't try to keep the wine away from her, but he usually didn't want to mention it when they'd attained sobriety again. Stiff upper lip! "Ready to go, then?"

"Almost. There's a lot of stuff that I didn't pack, but it has no emotional significance and no monetary worth, so I'm discarding it." That...summed up more of her life than she would be comfortable with if she was in any way a normal, sane teenage girl. But no, she had never been normal or sane, even in her pre-Riddle era. "Ready to go when you are. D'you know if Bill's coming with us now or if he's going to stick it out here a few more days?"

"He's coming with us. Big brother understands that running away is the better part of valour when Mum's in one of her moods. Anyway, we need to go into the Ministry to file your papers, and then maybe a quick trip to Hogwarts so you can say goodbye-and-fuck-you once we've got your records for the new school."

.

They Apparated to Penelope's before their parents had emerged from the bedroom, she in Bill's arms because she couldn't yet and Bill had sneakily mastered the art of Apparating with company, the three of them landing neatly on the doorstep of a large Tudor house that sprawled across neatly-mown lawns.

The refined opulence would have been enough to make her seethe with envy and break at least half a dozen of the diamond-paned windows if it hadn't been Penelope's, if it had belonged to anyone she deemed less worthy than her of having pretty things, but Penny was essentially familynear enough to, she was Percy's girl, which really ranked the Ravenclaw as more family than her own mother...to her mind, at any rate.

Percy put down their suitcases carefully on the polished stone and moved forward to grasp the beak of the heavy bronze doorknocker, but before he could crash it down again to announce their presence, the thick double-doors were flung open.

A man who had to be at least forty with dark curly hair pulled back into a queue stood there, friendly brown-black eyes raking over Ginny and Bill once before he waved extravagantly for them to proceed into the antechamber beyond. "Percy, come in! This must be Virginia and your brother...?"

"Bill," her oldest brother filled in, shaking hands with Penelope's father whilst she bobbed a quick curtsy in greeting before sitting on her suitcase.

"The infamous older brother," Mr. Clearwater smirked, throwing an arm around Percy's shoulders in affectionate greeting. "How's my prospective son-in-law then? You've broken the news to your family, I take it, that you're finally going to make an honest woman of my little girl"

"_Dad,_ stop tormenting him!" Penelope chastised her father, as she landed lightly on her feet after a rushed descent down the polished balustrade to save them, pulling Percy away to kiss him passionately in greeting. "Hi, GinnyBill," the brunette acknowledged them after the most important matter had been taken care of, smacking her father affectionately about the head before shaking hands with Bill and hugging her, a wicked grin appearing. "Ginny, you wicked thing, are you running away from home?"

"Of course," she answered with a little smile. "I'm off to Egypt in a few days, actuallyif I'd known about Percy's plans I mightn't have badgered Bill into taking me on, but it's probably all for the best that I run _far_ away, you know?"

"Definitely. I can understand the reasoning behind your choice." Penelope had heard most of the story of her first year; she'd apologised profusely when the girl had awoken, and her babbled and confused tale of RiddleVoldemortand how he'd been controlling her had spilled out.

Penelope had patted her on the back and given her tissues, promised not to tell anyone, and from then they had got on remarkably well, to the extent that she'd wander around with the Ravenclaw in her second year when Potter and Ron were ignoring her existence and Percy was busy running around doing Head Boy stuff. She'd even been privileged enough to see the inside of the Ravenclaw common room.

Living with Penelope and Percy wouldn't have sucked at all, but now...well, now she was going far away where Voldemort couldn't touch her, and she would have only been at home in the holidays anyway. Now Percy and Penny would just have to come to Egypt and visit her instead.

"So how long will your brother and sister be staying, Percy?" Mr. Clearwater inquired of her brother, yanking a bellpull to summon one of the house elves.

"I don't want to impose" Bill started, waving a hand to indicate toward the nearest town. "I was going to stay at a hotel, maybe take Ginny with me if it's too much an inconvenience for you to have her"

"Don't be ridiculous," Penelope's father ignored her brother's protests, pointing imperiously at the house elf that scurried in in response to the summons. "Flit, take Percy's suitcase to my daughter's roomand two rooms for his siblings, at once."

"May as well not bother arguing with Dad," Penelope commented, patting Bill's shoulder sympathetically. "We've got eight bedrooms, he loves stuffing them with people and lording over us all at dinner. But it's not all bad, if he begins to be _too_ obnoxious we can just fling peas and mash at him."

Penelope's dad wasn't too bad. Crazyno, people with money were _eccentric_but all right. He did insist that they all take tea with him before they be allowed to leave with Penelope, but she had no great objections to that before she went to face the Ministry about her change of guardianship.

Three cups of tea, two scones and a trip to the bathroom later, she, her brothers and Penny were in front of the fireplace with the poor Ravenclaw trying to explain exactly why Mr. Clearwater shouldn't march into the Ministry with them to kick people around. Physical violence was supposed to be a Ravenclaw's _last_ resort, not a Ravenclaw's first, and the last thing they needed was to be booted out before the paperwork was filed.

Mr. Clearwater evidently didn't believe a word they said, but he gave in reluctantly, stalking away upstairs only to pause halfway up the first flight and call back, "If you're not back in time for dinner I'm eating it all and you'll go hungry!"

"We'll be back in time, Dad. Go blow yourself up or something," his daughter called back, throwing half a jar of floo-powder in the fireplace. "The Ministry" Penny slipped through the flames to disappear, and Percy pushed her in next.

.

They piled out of the public-use fireplace into the foyer of the Ministry's central department not too much the filthierthe house elves at the Clearwater estate kept their fireplace spotless, and the Ministry didn't bother to have their fireplace litonly for Penny to smack directly into Draco Malfoy who was loitering about as if he _wanted_ people to walk into him.

"Watch where you're going, Mudpuddle," Malfoy sneered, his gaze falling on her and her brothers before returning to Penelope. "You shouldn't associate with them, you know, I hear poverty's catching."

"Naff off, blondie," Penny sneered back with a good thousand years of Ravenclaw disdain in her voice and glance. "We might not be quite so rich as you, or quite so inbred as you, but really we're in no danger of going bankrupt in the next two hundred years. Sorry to disappoint, tell your dad he's still not getting our house on the Cote d'Azur."

"I'll pass on the message." Malfoy pulled a face at her as she peeked out around Penny's shoulder, and she flicked him a two-finger salute in response.

"That's a good lad, then." Smirking happily, Penelope reached back to grab her hand and towed her toward the door that opened into the heart of the Ministry, waving for Percy and Bill to catch up. "Honestly, Malfoys. Can't live with 'em, someone's bound to investigate shallow graves..."

"Is it wise to antagonise them?" Bill questioned as they navigated their way through a mess of old witches holding forth in an opinionated manner on the subject of Voldemort's return.

"Fuck, no. Doesn't stop me, though." Penny led them with only slightly-erring accuracy in the direction of the Department of Young Witches and Wizards, only to frown in annoyance when the waiting-room turned out to be devoid of all life, including that of the clerk who _should_ have been there waiting to help them. "Bugger." Ducking out again, the dark-haired girl paused at the door to issue a command of "You lot stay here, I'll find someone to sort this out."

"How come you're not handling this?" she asked Percy quietly as she took a seat. There had to be a valid reason, because after all, her brother wasn't incompetent.

"I don't have any pull with this side of the Ministry. It's better that Penny handles it, Social Development are still annoyed with me for slaughtering them at pool," Percy explained casually, taking the seat next to her whilst Bill wandered on to adorn some of the moving posters with a black fountain-pen that he had found on the clerk's desk.

Percy was right, she was sure. Coming from outside the room she could hear Penny's distinctive alto tones increasing in volume, although they changed from a random string of expletives to something a lot more friendly. Evidently Penny had found someone who might actually be helpful. "Oi, Shannon! Give us a hand with something?"

Whoever Shannon was she seemed inclined to help, for shadowing Penelope when she returned was a bespectacled brunette that Ginny vaguely remembered seeing around school the previous years. The girl took one look around the room and frowned, walking quickly over to the clerical desk and leaning over it to rummage in the papers left on top in such a state of disarray that any further meddling could only make it tidier.

"Right," Shannon said in a soft voice with her accent blurring the word slightly, picking up the heavy appointments book and leafing through it to find the current day, pulling an Everlasting Ink quill out of her long plait. "Name?"

"Weasley," Penelope interjected before Ginny or her brothers could answer, and nodded in satisfaction when the Scottish girl edited the book to give them an appointment. "Well, that's half donenow what?"

"Why, now I go find Bryant Dunstan and hit him over the head with this book here." Waving the heavy tome with a maniacal gleam in her grey eyes, Shannon smiled happily at them and set off on a mission of destruction through the closed double-doors that led further into the Ministry.

"Ravenclaws are the most _interesting_ people," Ginny observed quietly, and Percy snickered at her before he nodded in agreement.

"Of course they are. I wouldn't love one otherwise," Percy used the lead-in to claim a kiss from Penelope, and they began entertaining each other while they waited for the wheels of the court to be set in motion.

"So, Bill," she started when her oldest brother took a seat to wait, having finished his vandalism for the moment. "Tell me more about Egypt, you know I didn't get to see that much of it last time."

"Wrapped in cotton wool as you were," he agreed, not complaining when she took over three chairs and stretched out with her feet on his lap. "For a start, it's hot as fuck there."

.

Shannon returned with a man who looked to be in his early twenties, a man who looked very much the worse for wear as he was kicked in the ankle repeatedly by the short Scottish girl and scolded for, from what Ginny could hear, "Pissin' off for a fuckin' tea break when some people have to work a lot bloody harder and all you've got to do is man a bloody desk, how difficult is that?"

The haranguing stopped when Shannon realised she had herded the recalcitrant clerk nearly all the way back to his desk, and she cleared her throat before she addressed Penelope with a "If you're nearly finished checking for tonsillitis, I've found th' guy who's to rush your paperwork through."

"Mmmthanks, ShannonBill, give the paper-pusher your papers," Penelope slid off Percy's lap gracefully, stalking over to the desk to stand over Dunstan and make sure he did what he was ordered to.

Ginny lifted her feet and sat up in concession to Bill's obvious need to rise in order to hand over the custody application forms, but didn't bother taking a more active part in the proceedings until her presence was required. She was just the minor being shuffled from one person's care to another's, and they hadn't even landed up in front of the magistrate yet. Her role remained spectator for the moment, and she really quite liked it that way.

"Look, this is no good," Durstan complained as he scanned over the forms. "We need her parents in here as well for the court to decide"

"Bollocks you do," Shannon cut him off, leaning over to stab with a carefully-manicured nail at a notation on the third page. "It's intrafamily, not inter, the parents have already signed. Quit being such a nancy-boy and just push it through, you whinging little maggot"

"Nice phrasing," Penelope complimented, a little grin on her face as she watched Bryant quail beneath the glare of the younger girl. "Haven't seen you let rip like that since firstie Gryffs spilled milk on your homework."

"Whoever said there was no use crying over it had never spilled it on any of my work. Bryant, you're very slow with those, you know your job isn't to decide each case. You've verified that there's a case, now just be a good boy and take them into the magistrate."

"Boyd, I find it increasingly difficult to _do my job_ with you standing over like some little dictatordon't hit me again! Christ, I'm going, I'm going" Grumbling all the while, the man nonetheless did stomp out the door from which he'd emerged, papers in hand.

"Sorry about that," Shannon murmured, dusting her hands off on her hips and smoothing out her robes. "Good help is _so_ hard to find, you know. Anyway, I must get back to workI'm pushing for reassignment, and so must appear as competent as I can. Penny, just come and find me if Bryant is much more of a pissant, although I think the mere threat of my return should straighten him out. Bye, Weasleys."

Not with a bang nor a whimper the Ravenclaw girl scurried away quickly, leaving them alone once more to wait. It wasn't, however, a very long wait; Bryant returned almost immediately with an expression of mild annoyance and his hands free of their paperwork, to indicate that they should follow him.

"You're lucky," he muttered to Percy and Bill as they hurried through the grey marble and wood hallways to an ornately-carved door. "Magistrate's _kindly_ agreed to see you, even though there's usually a three-week wait on these things."

The magistrate wasn't at all like the hired flunky that had led them in, to her surprise. No, instead the magistrate was a tiny witch with white hair who had to be at least a hundred and thirty, who looked upon her with a spark of interest and a kind smile. "Virginia Weasleyyou want to go and live with your brother instead of with your parents?"

"Yes," she answered decisively, putting as much enthusiasm as she could muster into her reply.

The witch began writing something that she couldn't see from her disadvantage point, directing the next question elsewhere. "William Weasleyyou accept responsibility for her?"

Bill didn't hesitate, proving his sincerity to her with his response and the smile he gave her. "Yes."

"Percy Weasley, you'll take over Virginia's care if William should be rendered incapable of caring for her before she attains her majority?"

"In an instant."

"You know," the magistrate-witch's eyes sparkled a moment as she shook her head, pointing a finger at Ginny as she continued, "the customary response is a flat yes or no, but I'll accept that. Done. Virginia, come up here and claim your new papers."

She went up with a new spring in her step, not even flinching when the old witch patted her shoulder as she received four copies of her custody order. This had turned out a _lot_ easier than she'd anticipated. The magistrate had practically handed everything she wanted to her on a shiny silver platter, and it was now too late for her mother to change her mind about it without facing a custody battle royal. All really was well, now. Away from her mother, away from Hogwarts, away from Voldemort...she had it made.

"Now, drop one off at the records desk on your way out, William, you put a copy in a safe placesuch as a safe, for examplesend one to your parents, and Virginia, you keep yours safe too," the crone nodded in satisfaction at a job well done and waved a hand toward the door. "Be off with you. Enjoy your new arrangement."

.

"One last stop," Percy commented cheerfully to her as they made their way outside the Ministry and into the murk and glitter of Diagon Alley, pulling her out of the way before a pair of overgrown Gryffindor second-years could step on her. "Hogwarts. Have you anything pithy to say to Dumbledore as you take your leave?"

Percy was advising her to be sarky to authority figures? How times changed...of course, the moment she had her school records in her hot little hands and Bill had formally withdrawn her from Hogwarts, Dumbledore ceased to be an authority figurefor her, at least.

Bill had mentioned on their way out about the tense relations between Sheta Oasis and Hogwarts, due in no small part to Dumbledore's roughshod approach to interacting with other schools, and had assured her that very little she had done in Scotland would matter to her new teachers. She wasn't evil, she wasn't stupid, and she could pay attention in classthat would make her more than acceptable.

"I'm thinking," she answered with a little shrug. "Would 'Loathed my time here, fuck you very much' be a bit naff?"

"Sounds perfectly acceptable to me," Penny chimed in, scribbling down a note of the lunch appointment she'd made with Shannon Boyd for the following Monday before she tucked her notebook and pen away, linking arms with Percy to stroll down the street and take up as much of the path as possible. "Add something about him being decrepit, that'll get to him. I overheard Malfoy tell 'im that a while back, and it annoyed the fuck out of him."

Still mulling over all the pretty possibilities of rude things to say in her head, Ginny squeaked in surprise when Bill pulled her off the street and into one of the little alcoves left by a shop that had burned to the ground, scooping her up into his arms and Apparating her away. "You might want to add," he commented as they arrived a metre away from the school gates, "something nasty about their poor standards and complete inability to dispense proper psychiatric help. Kick 'em while they're down."

"Sounds good," she answered as he put her down and Percy and Penny arrived a moment later. "Oh, d'you think I should throw in something about the disturbing tendency of their Defence Against the Dark Arts teachers being either evil, incompetent, or both?"

"Toss it in," Penny said with authority, kicking the gates open and strolling onto Hogwarts property with nary a care for the reception they were likely to get when the nature of their call became known. "Really, a good half the teachers there are blindingly incompetent. Say what you will about Snape's dubious past and Slytherin nature, but at least the man can teach. Our Ravenclaw teachers and the bint in the Astronomy tower are fair decent too, but I learned more about Transfiguration from watching Dad at home than I learned from McGonagall."

"Not in-depth enough?" she asked as she wandered up the drive with her hand tucked into the crook of Bill's elbow, suddenly struck by a moment of fear.

What if Dumbledore refused to let her go? He shouldn't have any reason for it beyond being an arse, but a niggling little hint of premonition told her that this step wouldn't be as easy as the last, not with the way Dumbledore actedit was the condescending nature of the man that hinted at her escape not being the problem-free thing she'd envisioned.

His problem was that he thought he knew _better_ than everyone else.

"Not in-depth enough. Also, too much time spent on telling us how to _feel_ something and not enough telling us how to _do_ something."

"_Feel_ the hedgehog," Percy added in a mocking falsetto, his expression schooled into a prim look that really was an awful lot like McGonagall's. "Be _one_ with the hedgehog."

"Just what everyone wants, to identify with and perform disgusting acts on small mammals."

"Thanks, Bill, Percy," Penny grumbled, nose wrinkled in a disgust probably not unlike that which Ginny herself felt. "I'm so glad I didn't bother with silly trifles such as breakfast this morning."

"Starting to wish I hadn't," she mumbled under her breath as she gazed up the stairs at the heavy doors which lay closed now, holidays being what they were. "_Really_ starting to wish..."

"Don't worry, Gin," Bill had overheard her, and took a moment to hug her, a reassuring gesture that had more effect than it would've a day before. She _was_ so close to being away, and Bill supported her, he wouldn't let some old wrinkled fart of a wizard have any further say in her fate.

While they had their touchy-feely sob story time, Penelope had skipped up to bash on the door with one fist and yell out for them to open up, the perfect picture of a refined and delicate young lady...who'd spent her entire time at school behind the broomsheds, trading in quick gropes or snogs for cigarettes.

"Well, that's charming," she giggled, a little more of the tension fading away. If all else failed, Penny could kick Dumbledore in the head for her and she could run like hell.

"Of course," Penny answered with an expression that wouldn't have looked off on a Malfoy, the superior smirk one that also fit her surprisingly well. "I am _always_ charming. And graceful and demure, too."

"Your dad didn't believe that when we staggered in at four in the morning, pissed out of our skulls," Percy pointed out, joining his girlfriend on the top step as one door swung slowly open. "Of course, throwing up on his slippers mightn't have been the best way of convincing him that you were the very personification of ladylike behaviour."

"Details, details. Oi, elf, nip off and get Dumbledore or McGonagall. Someone nominally in authority over this mess," Penny commanded, stalking inside and ignoring the way the house elf looked set to go into a fit. They followed the Ravenclaw girl with about the same concern for the house elf, and made themselves at home on the heavily carved seats that lined one side of the hall. "This year'd be nice."

Waving its hands frantically, eyes spinning in its head, the house elf couldn't bring itself to do more than nod before it disappeared with a pop.

.

Dumbledore saw _her_ first as he rounded the corner, his garish red and gold robes and his white-bearded self appearing out of a little side-hallway instead of coming down the main stairs where he'd have seen her last, and his twinkling eyes were twinkling at her as he opened his mouth to greet her. "Ginny! And Billyour mother sent you to remind me about the charms I have to place on the Burrow? I haven't forgotten..."

"Not exactly," she started trying to explain, rising from her seat and clasping her hands behind her back so he couldn't see her nails digging into her skin. "You see, I"

"You came of your own volition? You _are_ looking forward to young Harry's visit, I can tell," he smiled at her even as he ignored her attempts to speak up for herself, interrupting the start of her explanation. "Don't wor"

"Actually, Professor, we've come to collect Ginny's school records. She's coming to live with me," Bill interrupted _him,_ looking down at the old wizard and putting a supportive arm around her. Penelope and Percy began to pay attention to something that wasn't each other, and stood up to flank them. "Since she'll be starting at Sheta Oasis in...let's see, around mid-August...it would be _very_ helpful if we could just take them with us now."

Bill's words got through to the old git's brain as her own hadn't, and Dumbledore looked genuinely shocked for a moment before a carefully-composed expression slipped into place. "This does seem to be a very arbitrary decision, Bill," Dumbledore began slowly, effectively ignoring her yet again in favour of condescending to her brother. "I spoke with your mother only three days ago, she mentioned nothing of Ginny being withdrawn from Hogwarts in favour of a school run by people who are...well, they're hardly English."

"Egypt is much healthier than the British Isles, and it makes us feel better about Ginny's safety," Percy said with a raised eyebrow. "Not English, in this situation, is infinitely better than English."

"Regardless of your feelings in the matter, Percy, Bill, I'm afraid I can't allow you to withdraw Ginny from Hogwarts. Only your mother and father have that authority, and as I don't see them here..." the old wizard paused for dramatic effect, glancing around deliberately to see if her parents were hiding behind a curtain or beneath a chair, but he paused a moment too long.

"As it happens, I also have this." Bill pulled his copy of the custody order out of his coat pocket, and smirked. "I'm Ginny's sole legal guardian as of, oh, fifteen minutes ago?"

"Closer to twenty-five if we go from the time the good magistrate signed the forms, instead of from when you filed a copy with Records," Penny added helpfully, buffing her fingernails on her skirt.

"I could contest this, have her made a ward of the school," Dumbledore murmured thoughtfully, his words making Ginny's heart drop to somewhere around her knees. "It's hardly in Virginia's best interests that she change schools this far into her education, and I have quite serious concerns about her mental health given the ordeal of her first year..."

"Before you consider any such action," Percy sprung to her defence, obviously eager to get a few choice words in on that account himself, "I'd suggest you look at the signature on that certificate. Brunhilde Wildsmith approved Bill's petition, and I'm sure you're not unaware of the power she has. I _doubt_ she'd be thrilled to hear all about your concerns, and as for Ginny's first year...why on _earth_ do you think we'd want her to continue _here?_"

"Hogwarts is the finest wizarding school in Europe!" Dumbledore protested, trying not to lose the jovial look as he realised she was still watching him. "Ginny, your mother and father only wanted the best for you when they sent you here, surely you don't want to go? You would be leaving behind dozens of friends, your second home, and Harry"

"Oh, _bugger off!_" she snapped in response at last, shocked at herself as the words broke free. "Will everyone _stop telling me_ what bloody Potter means to me? You're all full of _shit,_ and I hate it here at Hogwarts, I don't have 'dozens' of friends, this place has _never_ been home to me, it's simply where I've been forced to exist, I have horrible memories every time I turn a corner, Mum and Dad only sent me here because it was as close as they could get to free," she was gasping for breath by the time she paused a moment, and Bill's advice flitted through her mind again, spurring on one last comment, "And you _worry_ about my _mental health?_ There, there, kid, so you've been possessed by evil for a year and nearly died, but have a cup of hot chocolate and it's _all_ better...I don't bloody think so."

"Very well," Dumbledore's face was thunderous as he looked on her, shocked and surprised that she had absolutely no intent of falling for one of his lines and accepting that his way was the _one true way_, "As you are _obviously_ judgement-impaired," he stated as he returned the certificate to Bill, "I will have no choice but to give you copies of Virginia's school record, and hope that she comes to her senses before it's too late."

"How gracious, how _kind_" she bit her lip before she could continue, before she could provoke Dumbledore into changing his mind. "Thank you, Professor Dumbledore. It is very good of you to attend to this matter with such promptness."

"I didn't mean _today,_" Dumbledore stated blankly, waiting for her to tell him that there was no rush, or even worse, that he might as well not bother then, she would be _happy_ to stay on at Hogwarts.

"Which is why I appreciate it so very much," she smiled guilelessly at him. "We _all_ appreciate it, truly."

He returned her smile, the twinkle returning to his eyes as he gestured toward the stairs. "In which case, Virginia, why don't you accompany me to collect your file? We'll amend the school register to certify that you're no longer in attendance, if you're quite sure you won't be back in September..."

She couldn't. She couldn't go up there with him alone, she didn't _trust_ him. Most students did, most were reasonably sure that he only had their best interests at heart, but _she_ didn't believe it. She knew there were magics that could be placed on a personcompulsions, coercions, they weren't banned like the Unforgiveables because they weren't curses, but a controlling spell woven around someone's mind...trapping them in the cage of another's thoughts until they accepted those thoughts, dreams, aspirations as their own...

She wasn't going to be alone with him for a _moment._ For all the wrongs Riddle had done her, he'd taught her a thing or two whether it was by accident or design, and _he'd_ known that Dumbledore could coerce like no one's business...Dumbledore couldn't have done it to Tom, the young dark lord had force of mind enough to resist, but _she didn't..._

"You don't need Ginny's signature for the register," Penny spoke up, walking casually into her line of vision and blocking Dumbledore's gaze from resting on her, freeing her to _think_ properly. "_I'll_ go with you, I can carry papers just as well as she canand if you have any of her medical records I'll take those too. Might be a bit heavy for Gin," Penny was lying quite blatantly, for the Ravenclaw was no stronger than she was, and her first impulse was to say that no, Penelope couldn't go, but it was obviously a calculated tactical move on Penny's part, if Penny had suspicions similar to hers.

Penelope was the only one who was safe. Ginny couldn't go, she'd be bespelled into never wanting to leave in an instant. Bill might be bespelled almost as easily as she would be, to turn her over, and Percy was the nominated default guardian if anything happened to Bill. Dumbledore could fuck with Percy's mind and then arrange a little accident for Bill, she was sure he had no compunctions over the immorality of the act because the ends justified the means, and Dumbledore seemed to want her to remain...not for her own sake, oh no, but for Potter's.

She'd had a crush on the boy when she was ten, and her parents...and now Dumbledore...seemed to think it was true romance, or at least something that would keep Potter from flying off the rails with all the pressure that the poor baby was under. She was still dead sure she was right before, they _would_ be better off shacking him up with Ron.

No, Penny was safe. Penny couldn't be spelled to make Ginny stay, Penny had no legal authority over her and for all Dumbledore knew, any advice Penelope gave her was insignificant. The look on Dumbledore's face proved her reasoning was sound, and the tone he began to speak in only confirmed it. "Penelope, I couldn't ask you to do such a thingit's Ginny's choice to switch schools, so it should be Ginny's job to see it through."

"Oh, you didn't ask me. I volunteered, so don't worry about it. Let's dash off and get them now, then we'll be gone and well out of your hair," Penelope paused, glancing back at her to receive a tremulous grin of thanks, and nodded with resolve. "Gone forever. Won't that be nice?"

Dumbledore didn't respond to that one, tottering off up the stairs without a backwards glance as though he assumed sheor Pennyor maybe he didn't care who any morewould follow, grumbling under his breath all the while. Penny beamed at them and bounded off after Dumbledore, and Bill just raised an eyebrow at Percy. "Your girl is an...interesting one."

She sighed in relief, the feeling of impending doom had lifted at last and now she truly felt carefree, without a worry in the world. Oh, there was the new school, there was half a dozen new languages to learn, she'd have to adapt, but she could do that.

Her mother and father hadn't been able to stop her, the magistrate Wildsmith had been kindly, understanding, and perfectly willing to help her escape a bad situation, and as for the last stumbling-block, Dumbledore... well, for someone supposedly one of the most respected wizards in England, the senile old fool still hadn't been able to stop her. Not with Percy, Penny and Bill on her side. Ward of the school? _Hah._

Penny returned only twenty minutes later without Dumbledore, a red card folder in one hand and a slip of parchment in the other, the latter of which she handed over to Ginny at once before foisting the folder off on Bill. "Told the old fart we'd let ourselves out, 'cos we didn't want to disturb him any further," Penelope filled them in while they walked briskly down the stairs and out into the afternoon sunlight, past the house-elf that shook its tiny fists at their departing backs.

"No wonder he was trying to con you into staying," the ebony-haired girl added in an aside to Ginny as they rounded the lake, heading directly for the gates to Apparate back to the Clearwater estate. "I heard all about Potter's fancy of Cho this past year, and her grandmother disenrolled her from Hogwarts yesterday. She's off to China where it's safe, and poor Dumbledore's trying desperately to keep anyone around who can keep Potter from giving up and just dying instead of fighting the good fight."

"Hah, really?" She always had thought Chang had good sense, though. Sense enough to decline Potter's invitation to the ball, and now sense enough to run the fuck away herself.

"'Course. Saw her name and reason down in the book myself when Dumbledore reluctantly pulled you out, after trying to convince me that it would be wonderful if I conned Percy into making you stay. Heard about the crush through the unofficial Ravenclaw alumni network."

"You lot really, _really_ like to keep tabs on things, don't you?"

"We're Ravenclaws. We're all about the acquisition of knowledgeand the shiny objects."

She let the conversation lapse at that point, as they made it out the gates, and sighed as Bill picked her up. The stress of her day was uncoiling and dissipating at last, leaving her with a nervous headache like those she'd started to suffer from after her first year at Hogwartsand she'd hoped those were a thing of the past. Still, it wasn't as bad as those had been, and a rest should sort her out. Yes, later she still had so many things to do, people to write to and shopping to do, Bill had as much as said she would need new clothes for Egypt, but for now...sleep.

Clasping her arms around Bill's neck and resting her head on his shoulder, she began to nap.


	3. Chapter 2

**Ouroboros** 2  
by Faith Accompli

* * *

Disclaimer: All characters from the books belong to Rowling.  
Author's Note: Um. My apologies for not putting a chapter up for an entire year. Inspiration fled, but I think I've recaptured it again. I will endeavor to write the next chapter of this before 26/03/05. Those of you who have been waiting and nagging me, and who've actually come back to read this, thank you. I do appreciate it, and hope you won't be too discontent with this chapter - feeble as it is.

* * *

"What time do we get to Egypt?" she asked as she followed Bill into their tiny little cabin. Percy and Penelope had seen them off with much hugging and promises to visit and write; she'd seen her mother and father at the back of the crowd, but they hadn't been able to force their way through to the boat before it sailed. "And what do we have to eat?" 

Bill rolled his eyes, putting her trunk down and sliding it under the tiny bunk that lay beneath the hammock, while she dumped the armload of last-minute packages over the bunk. "Take my wallet and go aft, there should be a woman selling coffee and food somewhere."

"Aft?" Ginny paused, Bill's wallet already in her hand. "Is that some Egyptian way of telling me to go fuck myself?"

"It means the arse-end of the ship, Ginny."

"Oh." She skipped out of the cabin before she asked any more ignorance-revealing questions, then made her way to to back of the ship, avoiding the couple with the rambunctious and verbose toddler, then the sailor who she dimly recognised from her first year of school, as she rifled through Bill's small change and followed the scent of coffee.

By the time she reached the wooden table set up at the stern, she had fumbled out five sickles and a handful of tiny gold coins and was hungry enough to eat a centaur if one wandered up and held still long enough. "Hi," she greeted the old woman, holding out the coins. "How much can I get for this?"

"Put the gold away, girl," the crone chastised her, and nodded approval once Ginny had shoved it into her pocket. "Two sickles will get you a cup of coffee, a pie and a biscuit. One of each for you?"

"Two. I left my brother in our cabin."

"Ah, well. You should get back to him before he gets himself into trouble. Four sickles."

Ginny handed over the money without pause, taking in return the two paper cups and the napkin holding pies and biscuits, almost dropping the latter before she got her fingers dug in properly. "Thank you."

Provisioning taken care of for the time being, she hurried back to the cabin and found Bill waiting for her just outside the door. "Take it before I drop your dinner on the floor," she demanded, holding out the second cup of coffee and the food, sipping her own drink.

"The deck," Bill corrected, and she poked her tongue out at him as she returned his wallet. "Shut up, Bill?"

"Yes. Shut up, Bill. Now tell me more about the school I'm going to."

.

It turned out that Bill wasn't terribly knowledgeable about the school, fair enough since he hadn't actually attended it, and what little he did know was mostly because a workmate's daughter was attending at the beginning of the school year-just as Ginny herself was, she supposed. When Bill had exhausted what little reserve of trivia he did have, he moved on to Egypt in general, a description of the culture and peoples much more detailed than the one she had heard from Percy when she'd been twelve.

Bill talked about the religious history, the way the Council was being run ragged keeping those not gifted with magic from finding out about roughly eight thousand years of magical civilisation - the temple-cities that only witches and wizards could see, let alone enter. He told her of days spent roaming and nights spent in the cool of the desert with a warm and willing...nothing that she needed to hear about. Despite her pressing him then, he wouldn't continue, and climbed up into the hammock above her bunk with a stern warning that she wasn't to fall over the side of the ship and drown.

Ginny sighed and curled up on the bunk when it became apparent Bill had no intention of telling her any more. "Stupid brother."

"Stupid sister. Go the hell to sleep."

He dozed off in under a minute, leaving her wide-eyed and awake...alone to worry about the decisions she'd made and bullied her brothers into helping her with. Would Bill start to wish he hadn't said he'd take her? Would the school in Egypt even accept her, as far behind as she was in pretty much every language they used there? She had left her nightmares behind her at the Burrow and they hadn't followed her to Clearwater House; had they sneaked ahead to be waiting for her in Egypt?

Was she making the biggest mistake of her life?

She hadn't told anyone from school where she was going, not Colin and not Em and not Hermione either, who she didn't hate even if Hermione did spend almost all her time tailing Ron and Harry and left little for her. She still had the gold coins from Bill's wallet, and some pencils and paper in her little bag - maybe she should write to them? Cho had fled Hogwarts before she had, and they weren't the girls closest to Harry. Penelope's words had been ticking over in the back of her mind and if anyone was going to get pressed into the cause by Dumbledore, wouldn't it be Hermione?

No one deserved to end up with Potter.

Crawling out of her bunk and grabbing her bag on the way, Ginny made it out on deck and sighed, glancing up at the purple-black sky. This was the best thing she could be doing. Even if the school in Egypt wouldn't take her, Bill would find somewhere that _would._ She was going to stay safely away from England, away from Voldemort and Potter and her mother and the Gryffindor girls in her year. She'd be somewhere that she could just be her and not be defined by other people.

Waylaying one of the sailor girls decked out in a stripy shirt, cut-off trousers and a red cap, who looked her up and down before raising an eyebrow in question, she asked if there were any owls aboard.

"Owls? On the Night Boat? You'd be bloody lucky," the girl said with a laugh. "We don't have 'em onboard. But if you climb up to the crow's nest," she added, pointing up to the mast, "you might find an albatross or something willing to carry your letter."

"Thanks," Ginny said with a little grin, not sure if the girl was serious or just having her on, before walking away to the base of the mast. "I'll do that, then."

Scaling the mast wasn't as difficult as it looked when she found the invisible toeholds, aided in large part by her not wearing shoes or stockings, and she only slipped once or twice before making it up to the platform, what had to be the highest point one could get to on the ship without a broomstick or a misplaced levitation charm. Settling herself firmly on the boards and opening up her bag to retrieve paper and pencil, she frowned. What was she supposed to _say?_ 'Dear friends, I have grown tired of Scotland and decided that fucking off is a really good idea. Thanks. Bye.'

While not without its own charm, maybe she'd word her farewell letters with a little more substance to them...or at least make them a little less to-whom-it-might-concern. The easiest one first, she decided, scribbling down 'Hermione, you probably won't believe a word of this, but,' and pausing. But what? 'But Cho's fled the coop, so have I, and if you have family anywhere out of the country who's willing to take you, pack your bags now'? That sounded good enough to her. Hermione had mentioned some Muggle cousins in America, and America was far away from Voldemort...

She scribbled down a little more of her new suspicions, not mentioning Penelope's name so if the letter was intercepted she wouldn't get her brother's girl in trouble, then folded the letter and glued it shut with a shrug. This was more than she was required to do, and if Hermione didn't listen to her...well, that wasn't her fault.

Colin was next, just a short note explaining that Voldemort was back and she was _so_ gone, thanking him for letting her sit with him in class and not being a prat about her getting him petrified, and warning him to steer clear of Potter because people ended up dead that way. After a moment's thought she added a postscript for him to tell the rest of the Muggleborns the same, then glued that letter and put it under her bag with the one addressed to Hermione.

She was chewing on the end of her pencil and debating what to say in the last letter when a mostly-white albatross swooped in just like the sailor girl had mentioned, watching her with one beady eye and circling the mast without flapping its long wings once.

It landed on the edge of the platform and folded its wings neatly, cocking its head and peering at her curiously. "You do mail-runs?" she asked hopefully, and the bird's beak dipped once. "Excellent. Can you wait five minutes or so? I've just got one more to write."

The bird stepped closer to her, settling in beside her bag so as to not fall off the edge, and closed its eyes. She took that as a yes, and started writing the last letter-the hardest one of all. How did you tell your best friend that you were ditching her in favour of saving your own skin, based on hallucinatory nightmares that might have no actual bearing on reality but fucked with your head enough to make you run for cover at the first chance? Did you even bother going into details, given that she was a Slytherin, her parents were Slytherins, and while they probably hadn't supported Lord Voldemort last time they still agreed with some of his politics?

In the end Ginny didn't know what she said, if she had admitted to anything beyond a deep-rooted fear of Voldemort, if she'd said her thank-yous properly or mentioned how much their friendship had meant to her, but she signed it and glued it closed without looking back over it. If she looked, she'd change her mind and burn it, disappear without a single word. Em wouldn't learn she was gone until September, and she shouldn't - _wouldn't _treat a real friend that way.

She gave the albatross the letters after addressing them properly, holding out two of the gold coins she'd nicked from Bill as payment. The bird simply _looked_ at her. "Um. You can buy fish with them?" she suggested.

The albatross looked unimpressed, as though she'd missed something blindingly obvious, but picked the coins out of her hand with its free foot, nudged her once in the side and launched off into the night. "Thanks!" she called out after the bird, and was answered with a flap of its wings as it gained height.

"Freaky bird," she muttered to herself as she clambered down the mast, her bag thrown over her shoulder once more. "It'd bloody better deliver those..."

"I didn't mean you were actually supposed to _do_ that," the sailor girl said from behind her when she set foot on the deck once more. "And as for an albatross just stopping by to pick up your mail - it was a joke. They don't do that. They carry messages once in a blue moon, but only if it's important. Deaths, shipwrecks, acts of God."

"So I'd have been better off shoving the letters into a bottle and throwing them off to smash on the shores of Portugal?" she asked slowly, contemplating the wisdom of throwing the other girl overboard to smash on the shores of Portugal.

"If the bird took them, they'll get there," the girl admitted. "It's just...they're not supposed to. They don't stop to fetch and carry for just anyone."

"I'm special," Ginny said with a smug smile, then turned on her heel and marched off to the cabin. Dropping back onto her bunk, she fell asleep in the time it took for her bag to hit the floor.

.

She woke up an undeterminable amount of time later when Bill dropped a wet towel on her head, and struggled free with muttered profanity to see through the open door that the sun had barely risen.

"Come on, Ginny," Bill told her when she was sitting up and looking unmistakably cranky. "We'l be in port in ten minutes, and we have to go through Customs and get you registered."

"What, like I'm someone's pet crup?" she bitched, rolling out of bed and fumbling clean pants and a skirt out of her bag. After changing quickly underneath her robes, she poked Bill in the side. "Well? Do I get dog tags? Huh?"

"Maybe another time. Right now you get this ever-so-attractive headscarf, because this is Egypt." Bill ignored her sulky look and made a half-hearted attempt at tying the silk scarf on to her, eventually giving up and just wrapping it around her head three times. Knotting the ends together and patting her on the shoulder, Bill stepped back and yelped when she viciously kicked him in the ankle.

"Nkkkhseerbrth," she protested, struggling with the knot and eventually tearing the scarf off.

"What's that?" he asked, nursing his injury outside the cabin where she couldnt kick him again, and peering around the door.

"I can't see, and I can't _breathe,_" Ginny repeated, plaiting her hair quickly and arranging the scarf so that no errant strands of copper could escape it. Later on she'd learn how to do it better, but for the time being, so long she made a token bow to the strange Muslim concepts of modesty... "This'll do, right? I don't need to wander around with a bag on my head or anything?"

"I think a bag over your head would suit you - kidding, just kidding. It should be fine," Bill nodded. "You won't be walking alone, and you're a white girl. There's only so much they can expect of you."

"Oh, _fabulous_," she grumbled, picking up Bill's bag since he was the only one of them allowed to use his wand, at least until she got to school, and he was responsible for carrying her much heavier trunk and all the rest of their things. "Be nice to me, I'm stupid-I mean, English."

"Pretty much." Levitating Ginny's trunk and the bags and packages atop it, Bill led the way and she followed. "Dig out the papers in the front pocket of the bag, would you?"

"Do _this_, Ginny, do _that_, Ginny...yeah, got 'em." Pulling a handful of documents out of the bag just as the ship made its last jump and arrived practically _in_ port, coasting in to gently touch the dock, Ginny shuffled through them until she found Bill's passport and one in her name-one that she certainly hadn't filled out any paperwork for, or had her picture taken for. Photograph-Ginny stuck her thumbs in her ears and poked her tongue out at the real Ginny, then turned around, and pretended neither of them existed. "What a revolting picture," Ginny grumbled and nudged Bill in the ribs, running her fingertips over the dark green dragonhide. This wasn't the passport she'd had last time she went to Egypt... "Where'd you get it, and how come you got this in the first place?"

"Photo's one from Percy's collection, and we forgot to get your passport from Mum before we left. Rather than go back and ask for it, I just got you a new one." Bill shrugged. "Easier this way, and this one's got me listed as your next-of-kin instead of Mum and Dad."

"'kay," she acknowledged. She wouldn't have gone to collect it either, if only because her mum and Ron would probably clap her in irons and throw her in the cellar with the root vegetables.

Disembarking the ship (Ginny with a little wave for the sailor girl who'd tried to send her up), they made for the shorter customs line and Bill took the papers from her to fish out the relevant ones: her passport, the paperwork saying that she was with him now instead of her mum and dad, his passport bound in a shimmery gold-brown leather quite unlike the relatively bland green dragon of hers, and the certificate that stated she had been withdrawn from Hogwarts.

It took her a moment to realise that they were the only white witch and wizard in the line.

"Uh, Bill? This isnt the line for foreigners. That one is. Shouldn't we be there?"

"I've got residence, stupid. I work here," Bill stated, flipping open his passport to display the little gold-embossed Gringotts stamp on the first page.

"Shouldn't I be in the other line, then? Cause I don't."

"No, you're with me. Now shut up or I'll sell you to the white slave trade."

Resolving to kick him in the bollocks as soon as they got home, wherever home was, Ginny pasted a sweet smile on her face and did as she was told.

A Customs witch with a name-badge that read 'Lujayn' took her passport, raised both eyebrows at the picture, and asked her if she was being abducted against her will to be married off. She burst out laughing at that, denying that Bill had brought her over for that purpose, and then paused. "You mean that really happens?"

"More often than many young witches would prefer," Lujayn said, nodding toward Bill. "You do look a lot alike, but that's all the more reason why we have to ask. It's most commonly done amongst families, whether it's because they consider it right for the child in question or because of a messy custody battle."

"I think Bill would tell me if he was going to marry me off to someone. And he'd get such a kicking in return..." she trailed off, her thoughts still on what the woman had said. While she hadn't thought for a moment that Bill would have sold her, the fact that it still happened - she'd thought it had died out around 1800, at least in wizarding society - was disturbing. Actually, that was an understatement. It was completely fucking disturbing, and she didn't like it one bit. "Anyway, I'm here to go to school. It's safer here than in England, Bill says."

"Have fun." Lujayn stamped her passport with a big purple stamp and gave it back to her. "I'd recommend the House of Hathor, but I'm biased. Maybe with your hair you'd be better off in the House of Set."

Later, she would ask Bill just what all that meant. For now, though, she thanked the woman and followed Bill further into the plastered and painted building that looked as if it could have come right out of one of her ancient history books.

.

"You want me to dive into that fountain." It was a statement, not a question, for Bill had looked completely serious when he gave her the instruction. "You want me to crack my head open and bleed to death, don't you?"

"Yes, that's exactly it," Bill snorted, offering her a hand. He'd already shrunk their belongings and put them in his pocket when they'd reached the fountain room, and now he expected her to jump into a shallow pool of water. "Look, just hold my hand and jump in when I do. Since you don't know where it is we're going and there's anti-Apparition wards around the houses..."

"Fine," she grumbled, linking arms with him and scowling. "If I die, the first person I'm coming back to haunt _will_ be you."

"Promises, promises," Bill patted her on the head and jumped headfirst into the fountain, dragging her with him.

She almost drowned on the way, which was probably her own stupid fault for opening her mouth to try and yell at her brother, but before she had a chance to inhale too much water they arrived.

Ginny landed on her feet, knee-deep in the paddling area of a generously-sized swimming pool and feeling that throwing up would be an excellent way of expressing how much she liked this new method of travel. Only the thought that she might like to swim in the pool later kept her from actually being sick, and her nausea faded quickly as she got out of the water.

"You'll get used to it," she was assured as they made their way through the glass doors and into a painted lobby.

Bill's apartment was on the fourth floor, seeming outwardly tiny but decent enough when they went through the door. She realised after a moment that she'd been evaluating it as though it was meant for six or more people, rather than just Bill and - during the holidays - her.

The living room was nice enough, with furniture that didn't look as old and broken as that at the Burrow, the kitchen was tiny but according to Bill he didn't cook much anyway, and although her room was small with a bed taking up at least half the floor-space, there was a cupboard that Bill said she could fit pretty much everything into. She had asked if she might end up in Narnia, walking through, but he said he doubted it and she'd probably just end up lost in there. It was magical, but not _that_ magical.

Returning to the living room after she'd unpacked in the style that seemed most appropriate, throwing everything into the magic cupboard and slamming the door, she sat down on the sofa and relaxed. She had made it this far, she was away from England and Death Eaters and Voldemort and a certain person who probably meant well but tended to get those around him killed anyway. Freedom! As much as a fourteen year old girl could get while living with her older brother, anyway.

The next few days passed in a blur of new experiences for Ginny: decorating her new room which devolved into a paint-fight with Bill, meeting his partner from work and his partner's two wives, shopping for suitable clothes at the markets and getting her very first lessons in Egyptian and Arabic. She had no more nightmares of Voldemort coming after her, although she did have a bad dream about showing up to her new school stark naked, and rather than wake up screaming she simply fell out of bed.

Bill didn't nag her like her mother did, to eat her vegetables and put clean underwear on (she didn't hate vegetables in the first place and had already grasped the fun concept of personal hygiene), nor did he bring up Harry once. They had breakfast cereal she liked, rather than a ton of grease-drenched hot food, and he didn't mind answering all of her stupid questions about Egypt. They went touring the pyramids, this time without her mum there to forbid her entering them, and she spent Bill's money on tacky souvenirs without him giving one word of condemnation.

"Bill?" she started hesitantly as she put her moving sculpture of the Sphinx on her bedside table and her death mask on the wall above her bed, "Do you regret having me come here? I'm going to drive you broke at this rate-"

"Oh, get over it and stop worrying," Bill chided her, sitting down next to her on her bed and pulling her in for a hug. "I make quite enough to buy you food and whatever junk your avaricious little heart desires - and soon you're going to piss off to school and I won't see you again for at least four months. I can make more money then."

"Well, so long as you've thought about it, rationally and so-forth, okay. I solemnly swear to get over myself at the soonest possible opportunity."

Bill quirked an eyebrow at her, looked as though he was going to say something crude, changed his mind, and changed his mind again. "Have you been reading the porn mags Charlie and I left at the Burrow?"

"Time-Turners And The Witches That Use Them? Urgh, yuck. I'd need to jemmy it open with a crowbar, the way those pages are all stuck together." Ginny pushed Bill off her bed. "Sod off now, I'm going to sleep."

"I'm going. Don't forget you have to be up early, though, we're going to the school to get you enrolled tomorrow morning."

Tomorrow _morning?_ Surely she would have remembered. "What? You never told me!"

"I'm telling you now. Sweet dreams," Bill teased, and closed the door on her.

.

She had showered, scrubbed only half her skin off with nervousness, plaited her hair neatly, and was sitting on the balcony fretting into her cup of tea when Bill found her.

He sat down on the other chair, looking out over the city, and left her in relative peace for a few moments before he found his voice. "Ready?"

"No," she admitted, forcing herself to put her cup down on the table before it shattered in her hands. "But we're going anyway. I can't not."

"It won't be that bad," Bill said, reaching over to pat her hand. "What's the worst that could happen?"

"They won't let me in because I'm stupid. Then they won't let me go to Beauxbatons because I'm stupid and English and the headmistress there is friends with Dumbledore, and they might let me go to Durmstrang but someone would kill me because I'm feeble, so I couldn't go there, and I couldn't go to China 'cos it's far away and they wouldn't let me in there, and I couldn't go to school in America because it would be really expensive, and I couldn';t go to school in Brazil because that old penpal of yours would break my kneecaps then turn me into a frog because you couldn't visit, and I'll end up in Antarctica going to penguin school."

"Gin. Calm _down_." Bill took her cup away from her and threw it over the balcony. "And no more hallucinogens for you. There's no penguin school, you're thinking of Australia-"

"Ha, that's what you say," she said glumly. She was overreacting, but she'd spent half the night awake thinking about it, about what if this new school wouldn't take her - _she couldn't go back to England_ - or what if they did take her, but everyone there hated her - because she wasn't like them - or what if a thousand things went wrong? What if she was sent to Australia and had to stand on her head?

Bill got up, pulling her to her feet without another comment on penguins or southern continents. "Come on, let's go. We're expected soon anyway, and once we're there you'll see that everything's fine."

"I'm not ready!" she protested as he hauled her over his shoulder and carried her inside. "C'mon Bill, just give me another minute, I need to get my bag and, um, go to the toilet-"

"You just went," Bill told her, slinging her bag with her papers in it over his other shoulder and opening the front door.

"Bill, let me down or I swear I'll pee all over you." She was abruptly dropped on the floor, luckily feet-first instead of head-first, and scampered back to the bathroom. She didn't actually need to go but she closed the door firmly, glad of the soundproofing in the apartments, and screamed as loudly as she could.

Two minutes later, when she had run out of breath completely, she emerged and took her bag from Bill, walked past him out the door, and started down the stairs before him.

By the time they reached the pool in the courtyard, she had regained her ability to speak. "So. Now we go."

"Now we go." Bill took her hand, and jumped with her into the water.


End file.
